Hampton. Norfolk. Nansemond. James City. Powhatan (Flower de Hundred). Yorktown. Queensborough, at Blackwater. Delaware, at West Point. Queenstown, at Corrotoman. Urbanna, at Middlesex. Tappahannock, at Hobb's hole. New Castle, at Wicomico. Kingsdale, at Yohocomoco. Marlborough, at Potomac creek. Northampton, at King's creek. Onancock.
The names of some of the trading towns were changed when they became ports, and soon became important and well-known throughout the country. Hampton, known first by the Indian name Kecoughtan (spelled in various ways) was settled in 1610. Although the name had been changed to Elizabeth City by the Company in May, 1620, upon the petition of the colonists, the old Indian name was still in use occasionally in the 18th century. In papers relating to the administration of Governor Nicholson is a list of vessels about to sail from "Keccowtan" in July 1705, sixty-seven sail of merchant ships bound for various ports of Great Britain. The names Kecoughtan, Elizabeth City, Lower James, and even Southampton were used interchangeably, and shown on records of the colony, until the Act of 1705, named the port Hampton. In British colonial records of 1700, we find Hampton Town, Elizabeth City and Keccowtan used in the same chapter.
F. C. Huntley in his Seaborne Trade in Virginia in Mid-Eighteenth Century, published in the Virginia Magazine of History, vol. 59, makes the statement that in the 18th century, Port Hampton handled the largest amount of shipping of all the Virginia ports, judging from the total tonnage of vessels entering and clearing as given in the records of the Naval Officers. He uses 1752, as a normal trade year of which he gives interesting statistics. He states that the tonnages that entered and cleared the Port Hampton naval office were distributed among five different types of rigging. Cleared: 64 sloops, 46 schooners, 16 ships, 20 brigs, 10 snows. Entered: 59 sloops, 40 schooners, 40 ships, 18 brigs, 12 snows. Of these a goodly portion were built in Virginia.
After taking part in laying the dividing line between Virginia and North Carolina, William Byrd II wrote on March 28, 1728:
Norfolk has most the air of a town of any in Virginia. There were more than 20 brigantines and sloops riding at the wharves and ofttimes they have more. It has all the advantages of a situation requisite for trade and navigation. There is a secure harbor for a goodly number of ships of any burthen. The town is so near the sea that a vessel can sail in and out in a few hours. Their trade is chiefly to the West Indies whither they export abundance of beef, pork, flour and lumber.
In the Journal of Lord Adam Gordon, Colonel of the 66th Regiment of Foot, stationed at the West Indies from 1763 to 1775, is extracted the following: "Norfolk hath a depth of water for a 40-gun ship or more, and conveniences of every kind for heaving down and fitting out large vessels; also a very fine ropewalk. There is a passage boat from Hampton to Norfolk and from York to Gloucester." In the third quarter of the 18th century, Norfolk became the principal seaport of Virginia.
Yorktown was founded on land patented about 1635 by Nicholas Martiau, a Walloon who had come to Virginia in the summer of 1620. His grandson, Benjamin Read, sold fifty acres to the colony in 1691, and here Yorktown as a port built the first custom house, not only in Virginia, but in the country. A two-story brick building, erected about 1715, by Richard Ambler, who occupied the building as collector of customs for Yorktown in 1720. It became a port of entry for New York, Philadelphia and other northern cities, the importance of which was destroyed by the Revolutionary War. York County was one of the eight original shires in 1634, under the name, Charles river, changed in 1643 to York. The old custom house is still standing and is used as a museum for colonial and revolutionary relics.
The location of Alexandria on a large circular bay in the Potomac river soon gave that town great importance as a port and shipyard. For generations, tobacco and grain were shipped from there, and imports of many kinds brought in. Master shipbuilders turned out vessels manned, owned and operated by Alexandrians. From her ropewalk came the rope to hoist the sails made in her sail lofts. On May 19, 1760, George Washington went to Alexandria to see Col. Littledale's ship launched. He tells of another launching he attended there on October 6, 1768, when he "stayd up all night to a ball."
The two creeks flowing from near Williamsburg to York river on one side and the James on the other, played an important part in early colonial history. From York river sloops, schooners, barges and all manner of flat-bottomed craft sailed up Queen's creek to Queen Mary's port with its Capitol Landing within a mile of Williamsburg. The same kind of watercraft sailed from James river up College creek to Queen Anne's port with its College Landing near the city. Cargoes of mahogany, lignum vitae, lemons, rum, sugar and ivory were discharged. Received in return were tobacco, grain, flour and other commodities. Vessels on Queen's creek were required to pass through the custom house at Yorktown after that office had been established.
Because of a general complaint by masters of ships that there were neither pilots nor beacons to guide them in Virginia waters, the General Assembly appointed Captain William Oewin chief pilot of James river in March, 1661, to be paid five pounds sterling for the pilotage of all ships above eighty tons if he be employed, and if not employed due to the presence of the ship's pilot who guided the vessel, he received forty shillings. The pilot was required to maintain good and sufficient beacons at all necessary places, and toward this expense, the master of every vessel that anchored within Point Comfort, having or not having a pilot, was required to pay thirty shillings. Later the pilot or the company to which he belonged was required to keep one pilot boat of 18 foot keel at least, rigged and provided for use at all times.